Job Fair Attendance Low

But Expectations High

Gayla Williams graduated from Florida Memorial in Miami, a traditionally black college, five years ago. She took a job with Toys `R' Us as her first job and rose to the position of department manager.

On Thursday, she sat at a Toys `R' Us recruiting booth at the National Black College Reunion Job Fair, hoping to bring other blacks into the Toys `R' Us corporate fold.

Williams said the job fair's recruiting effort is something her alma mater could sorely use.

"I didn't see a lot of recruiters back then, and there's very little (campus recruiting) still to this day," she said. "I think an event like this can help."

By taking booths at the fair, Toys `R' Us and other companies hope to centralize recruitment efforts and provide more exposure for their companies among a minority audience.

The fair, continuing through Saturday at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, drew employers like JM Family Enterprises, Barnett Bank, Humana, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Secret Service and the FBI.

It was part of the reunion's effort to increase alumni loyalty among graduates of black colleges, who tend to shy away from alumni activities, McQueen said.

Ryder Systems was there to recruit for positions ranging from secretary to senior financial analyst. Barnett Bank was there to find management trainees. The Secret Service was there to recruit for positions it would not reveal.

The turnout on Thursday was disappointing to organizers, who originally expected 35,000 people from throughout the nation. Attendance is now expected to be considerably lower, probably less than a quarter of original expectations.

Almost all of the people passing through the fair at midafternoon were high school students more intent on collecting souvenirs than job leads.

McQueen said that, because of bad weather in the Northeast, Thursday's events had more of a local draw than a national audience. Yet many exhibitors and vendors still hoped that with the weekend, snow would be plowed from northern runways, students would be out of class, and more serious recruiting would begin.

Bunel Watches' Steven Levenson was among the hopeful: "The turnout is light, but the event is a good event, for a first year. It can only grow."